Crash and Burn, Baby
by reno-xxxXXXxxx
Summary: Part III in a series... Memories and Regrets, Echoes in The Snow... Responsibility is an important thing, and everyone will do their best to show Reno this, no matter what it takes.
1. The Party

**A/N: **OMG!! This is soooo long compared to anything I ever done!! Well, here it is, like I promised. Please don't be put off by what happens in the first chapter...

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 1 – The Party**

"Reno, are you listening to me?" Reno was vaguely aware of a voice above him, but couldn't quite muster the energy to reply, or move for that matter.

"Right, that's it." He felt two arms wrap themselves around his waist and he was lifted up and dropped roughly onto the couch. "Reno, how much did you drink?"

Yuffie stared at the red-head in front of her, he had come home 10 minutes ago, and promptly collapsed on the floor in front of the door… and now his eyes were dropping shut again.

Reno's eyes shot open and he gasped as something icy cold washed its way over him.

"What the fuck was that for!?" he shouted at Yuffie. She had tipped cold water on his face.

"Sober you up…"

"Hmph." Reno pouted and brushed his wet hair off his face, Yuffie stared at him as he did so.

"Now what?" his speech was still slightly slurred.

"You've been fighting, haven't you?"

"What are you? My goddam mother?"

"Reno, why can't you be more responsible?"

"A lesson in responsibility from the ninja-bitch queen herself?"

"Reno, why can't you take anything seriously?"

Reno kept his mouth shut. Yuffie had just reminded him immensely of someone very close to his heart. He hung his head. "Look, I try. It's not easy to change who you are…"

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry… " she looked at him sympathetically for a second, then her expression hardened. "But you're gonna do it again, aren't you?"

"Oh for the love of… no." Reno put his hand to his pounding head scowling.

"Headache?" Yuffie asked kindly. Reno stared her, unnerved by her sudden mood swing.

"Yeah…"

"Don't take painkillers…" she said rolling her eyes as she saw Reno look at the bottle of painkillers next to him. "Drinking… you know; alcohol and drugs don't go."

* * *

Only one month had past since that first kiss between Reno and Yuffie, and despite the arguments they had often, cause by a little personality clash, Yuffie often reminded Reno that she still meant it. Nothing had really changed since then, Rihanna was still living with Reno, although she spent a lot of her time out, and Yuffie came around to visit a lot.

However, where Rihanna spent all that time, was beyond Reno. He hadn't tried to fins out, because he knew how annoying it was when Elena did that to him. The day he became like Elena was the day it was time for change…

* * *

"What's up with you?" Elena asked Yuffie the next afternoon, the two had become surprising good friends after they had recalled that incident with Don Corneo. They sat it a café, Elena sipped her coffee and watched as Yuffie scowled at her own coffee, stirring it miserably.

"Nothing."

"Is it Reno?"

Yuffie didn't reply, just carried on glaring at the innocent coffee.

"I'll take that as a yes." Elena sighed, "Listen, people who say a woman is capable of changing a man; they are usually right. But Reno isn't a normal man…"

"I don't want him to change; I want him to be more responsible."

"That's a world of change for Reno. He's not responsible…"

"Then how is he a Turk?"

"One thing about Reno, despite being irresponsible, he knows where to draw the line."

"He does?" Yuffie smiled evilly to herself. "I'll show him…"

"Yuffie?" Yuffie ignored her, jumping out of her seat and leaving the café, "Yuffie wait!"

Elena sighed. Anyone who tried to teach Reno a lesson in anything usually had limbs of some sort removed. She drained her coffee and left to go back to work

* * *

"Hey, Rude!" Rihanna said cheerfully to the bald Turk. He was sitting at a bar, on his own surprisingly. "Have you seen Reno?"

"No…" Rude said quietly, "Apparently Yuffie was mad at him for getting plastered last night, he's probably at home recovering…"  
"Recovering? From the alcohol or from Yuffie?"

"Who knows?" Rude shrugged.

"Well he's supposed to be at work, you don't suppose there's any chance…?"

"Always an option…"

* * *

As soon as Rihanna entered the building, it was obvious that Reno had made it to work. The unmistakable shout of "Reno!" from Tseng gave her a clue. She stepped into the lounge to see a very angry looking Tseng and Reno grinning innocently.

"What?" Reno said.

"Where the hell did this come from?" came Elena's angry voice from her office.

"You hid Elena's papers didn't you, Reno?" Tseng said trying to keep his voice calm.

"What!?" Elena almost screamed, stepping out of her office, "These are the papers that were in that slum you call your office Reno, you said they were yours!"

"Umm…" Reno grinned, Rihanna couldn't help but laugh.

Tseng sighed and put his hand to his forehead, "It's like working with a bunch of fucking three-year-olds." He said under his breath. "You two, get yourselves sorted. Now, before I decide to actually take notice of how immature you are, and fire you."

"Well done Reno." Elena pouted; she split the large pile of papers in half. "Here you can do some."

Reno opened his mouth to protest but Elena shot a glare at him, so he shut it and took the papers.

"If looks could kill…" he muttered.

"You'd have been murdered by a lot of people."

"You guys need any help?" Rihanna asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Here, help yourself." Reno handed some papers to her.

Between the three of them, they got the extra papers done in no time, despite the fact that most of them were done by Rihanna and Elena. Just as they were finishing Reno spoke up.

"You gonna be at home tonight?" he asked Rihanna.

"Umm, yeah, I am."

"Hey, why don't you come to 'Laney? I can ask Rude and we can get pizza or something."

Elena stared at him, her mouth slightly open. Reno looked disappointed.

"Look, I'm sorry about the paperwork…"

"No it's not that, I was just never mind… you have the strangest mood swings."

"What have I done now?" he asked shocked.

"Nothing…." Elena said shaking her head.

"Hey, boss-man!" Reno shouted behind to somewhere behind them. "You wanna come?"

"No thank-you, Reno. I'll pass."

"Suit yourself." Reno shrugged.

* * *

"Reno, will you just open the damned door?" Rihanna said impatiently, Reno had spent the last ten minutes on the floor after tripping over a step.

"No need to say that, it's not the doors fault." Reno pouted. Rubbing his ankle one last time, he scrambled to his feet and pulled the key out of his pocket.

"So are Rude and Yuffie coming?" Elena asked him as he unlocked the door.

"Yuh-huh." Reno said happily. He pushed the door open, "They're coming over in bit."

"Well, it's certainly better than last time I came in here." Elena said, looking around the apartment.

"Yeah, well I'm not gonna live like that am I? Yuffie did help a little too…"

"Hmph…yeah." Reno crossed his arms.

The three sat on the couch, drinking some of Reno's seemingly never-ending supply of beer, waiting for the other two to come. Reno smiled as he saw a familiar brown haired girl walk past the window.

"Hey!" she said happily as she walked through the door. Elena smiled at her, hoping she had forgotten about her plan of revenge, what ever that was.

"Is Rude not here yet?" Yuffie asked.

"Nope." Reno said, "He'll be here, he said he'd be a little late."

"Not like Rude to be late for anything…"

"Beer?" Reno said happily, offering her a bottle.

"Ummm," she seemed to think about it for a second before coming out with, "No thanks."

They all sat down again, Reno with his arm around Yuffie. Things were pretty quiet, it was amazing how much difference someone who never spoke could make.

"How come Rude got a day off anyway?" Yuffie asked.

"'Cause he…" Reno began; Rihanna interrupted him seeing the mischievous grin on his face.

"Because he was owed a day off, he never has any time off, unlike some people…" Rihanna said, looking at Reno.

"What?" Reno looked at her, "I only have time off if I'm sick!"

"You must be some sort of medical miracle then." Yuffie said, grinning.

"You'll _need _a medical miracle in a minute…" Reno said approaching her, Yuffie giggled then leaned forwards and kissed Reno on the lips. Reno looked temporarily stunned, and then Yuffie's face dropped. She suddenly looked like she'd remembered something, pushed Reno off of her, and ran out of the room to the bathroom.

"Back in a minute!" she shouted hurriedly behind her.

"What's wrong with her?" Reno said anxiously.

"I dunno." Rihanna said. Reno shrugged his shoulders and went back to his beer. Elena stared at him.

"What?"

"Nothing." Elena turned her gaze to look out the window. "Hey, it's Rude!"

"Hey Rude!" Reno said happily as the Turk walked in through Reno's front door.

"Enjoy your day off?" Rihanna asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Rude said, shocked at the attention he was getting. At that moment Yuffie re-entered the room. She looked pale.  
"You okay?" Elena asked her. Yuffie wiped her mouth and looked at Reno seriously.

"I need to tell you something…" she said quietly.

"What is it?" The whole room seemed to go completely silent.

"I'm pregnant."


	2. Betrayal

**A/N: **wow, I don't have a clue why these chapters are so long! XD sniff I almost cried when I was writing this -- I dunno why really, maybe coz of the song I was listening to - Yours to Hold, by Skillet. Aaaaaanyway... enjoy and please review!**

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**Chapter 2 - Betrayal**

"Pregnant?" Reno stood there, shocked, "W-with a baby?"

"No, Reno with a Llama." Elena said sarcastically. She stared at Yuffie in disbelief. "When did you find this out?"

"This morning." Yuffie replied, looking down.

"Oh shit…" Reno said, looking helplessly at his girlfriend. His face was easily whiter than Yuffie's and he looked like he was about to throw up. "No…no, this can't be happening…"

"It's your doing, Reno." Elena said, staring at him, "Or did you never learn the facts of life?"

"Huh?" He looked blankly at Elena. He took one last look at Yuffie, and then walked straight out of his own door.

"What? He wasn't supposed to leave…" said Yuffie sadly.

"He'll be back." Rude said, everyone looked at him suddenly.

"Rude?" Elena said in a slightly nagging voice, "Go find him."

Rude merely nodded his head and walked out of Reno's door, in search of the red-head.

"Umm, I think I ought to tell you two something…" Yuffie said sheepishly, looking at Elena and Rihanna.

* * *

Rude knew exactly where Reno would be, so he decided to try going to all of Reno's favourite bars. Sure enough, about an hour later as he walked through the door of the fourth bar he tried, he saw the unmistakable form of Reno slumped at the bar. 

"You okay, man?" Rude said, sitting next to him.

Reno looked up at Rude; his face was still chalk-white. "What the hell am I gonna do?"

"I don't know Reno. It's nobody else's fault, you know."

"Yeah…" he downed his drink and motioned at the barman to get him another.

"You can't drown your sins with alcohol, mate." The barman said, while pouring his drink, "Although it could work wonders if you got your bird to drink this stuff…"

"Shut it." Reno snapped, taking the drink off him. "But seriously Rude, I'm 26 now. My life is screwed."

"Yeah, you're freedom has completely gone, just from fuckin' that one extra girl…"

"Did I not tell you to shut the fuck up?" Reno said angrily.

"Sorry mate." He looked at Rude, "Ain't it supposed to be the women that get PMS? Are you sure he's not…?"

Rude shot him a glare and he quickly shut his mouth and went over to get drinks for other customers.

"You gonna come back now?" Rude asked.

"I can't, man. I really can't." Reno drained his glass again.

"Uhh, Reno? You have to, it's your apartment." Rude said, eying Reno curiously.

"Huh?" Reno looked at him blankly.

"What the hell is in that stuff anyway?" Rude asked, indicating the glass in Reno's hand. Reno shrugged his shoulders. "C'mon, let's just get you back home, okay?" Rude threw some gil down on the bar and motioned for Reno to follow him. He got to his feet, stumbling slightly, and clutched onto Rude for support.

"You can be so annoying, Reno." He put his arm around the smaller mans shoulders to stop him falling over… Rude didn't know how much Reno had drunk before he arrived. The man sure could down a lot of drinks in a short space of time.

* * *

"C'mon man, you know where your apartment is…" Rude said, about an hour later. It was getting more and more difficult to support the red head: he was obviously starting to change his mind about going back. 

Eventually, Rude managed to half carry, half drag Reno back to his apartment. He pushed the door open and carried him inside.

"Oh, you took so long; I thought you wouldn't have been able to find him!" Yuffie squeaked as Rude laid him roughly on the couch. "Where was he?"

"Exactly where you'd expect to find Reno." Rude said bluntly.

"Oh…"

"Trust him to overreact." Elena said, "It's not that big of a deal."

"Can you imagine what a baby of Reno's would turn out like if Yuffie were pregnant?" Rihanna said, grinning slightly.

"Huh?" Rude stared at the three girls.

* * *

Reno opened his eyes, ignoring the familiar pounding sensation in his head. The blinding sunlight that was pouring in through the open curtain told him that he had slept through the whole night, and probably most of the day. 

"Yuffie?" he said, sitting up. The room was apparently empty.

"Hey, Reno." Yuffie said walking in from the kitchen. She handed a glass of water to him.

"I-I'm sorry about…"

"Forget it, Reno. It's alright." Yuffie smiled at him awkwardly.

"Where's Rihanna?" he asked.

"She went out for a while; said something about meeting someone." Yuffie replied casually.

"Do you know who she's been meeting?" Reno said, scowling, "She seems determined to keep it a secret from me."

"No, sorry… I don't think she's told anyone…"

There was a long pause and Reno finished his water. Then he looked at Yuffie, a strange look in his eyes.

"So… you're really pregnant?" he said, his voice seemed to shake slightly.

"Ummm…yeah." Yuffie looked away.

"Listen." Reno said, slightly louder, getting to his feet. "I'm goin' out for a while. I'll see you later… and don't look at me like that; I'm goin' for a walk."

At that, he grabbed his jacket and headed out of the front door.

* * *

As he got to the bottom of the street, he heard two very familiar voices from around the corner. He jumped backwards into a dark alley, although he wasn't quite sure why. Then a surge of anger flamed through him as he saw his sister walked around the corner – with Cloud Strife. 

"I had fun Cloud. Thanks." Rihanna said, she leaned across and kissed him on the lips.

"See you later, Rihanna." Cloud said, walking away.

"Reno? What are you doing?" Rihanna said, looking directly at Reno's 'hiding place.'

"Oh shi… Rihanna…"

"You really don't trust me, do you?" She said, looking slightly angry.

"No, it ain't you that I don't trust… it's him!"

"You just deal with your life, Reno… I'll deal with mine." The anger had gone from her voice, replaced by disappointment, which hurt Reno even more. She looked at him; her eyes half filled with anger, half with sadness, and then walked off in the opposite direction, leaving him alone.

* * *

"Reno? What's wrong? You've been so unhappy since you got back, what happened?" Yuffie had been bugging him since he got back, trying to find out what had happened. Rihanna still hadn't returned home.  
"I think I messed up big time, Yuffie." He finally said. 

"Huh? How?"

Reno told her about the incident with Cloud and Rihanna, Yuffie sat listening, not interrupting him once. When he finished, she simply nodded her head.

"You obviously don't realise how similar you two are." She said, grinning.

"Huh?"

"She's done exactly what you did yesterday."

"Yeah but…"

"No buts, Reno… when she gets back, you gotta swallow your pride and apologize!"

"But… I was only lookin' out for her."

"Like I said, you two are so similar, you would have done the same thing if it was you." Yuffie said, still grinning.

* * *

Rihanna stood outside the front door of Reno's apartment. Her anger at him hadn't quiet melted away yet, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to go in yet. Suddenly the door opened and the red head she was just thinking about stepped outside. 

"I know you've been standing out here for ages now…" Reno said.

"I… I wasn't sure if I wanted to…"

"I-I'm… sorry. I should have just left you…"

"Oh, Reno…" she rushed forwards and hugged him, tears in her eyes. "I know you were only looking out for me, but you need to trust me…"

"I do trust you… Cloud… he's tried to kill me before."

"Yeah, and you did the same to him, Reno. Let's just forget it for now, ok?"

The two of them stepped inside, Yuffie smiled smugly at Reno.

"Told ya so."

* * *

A/N: hehe, nice and happy... I don't really like this chapter after re-reading it, it seems a little pointless at the moment, but when I get all the other stuff in further on, it won't be. Hope ya likie 


	3. Heir

**A/N:** Chapter 3 yay! Still with the log chapters, I'm not complaining though. The plot starts to unfold in this one I think. I enjoyed typing about Reno's anger because that's exactly what I was feeling at the time – being called a anorexic bitch isn't exactly my idea of nice…. But anyhoo, enjoy!!

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**Chapter 3 - Heir**

"I still don't trust him, you know…" Reno said for about the twentieth time that day.

"Oh, Reno, shut up." Rihanna said rolling her eyes. "You know, it's no different to you and Yuffie."  
"Yeah it is, Cloud's a dick."

Both Yuffie and Rihanna couldn't help but laugh at Reno's immature insults.

"Listen, Reno." Rihanna said, "I don't care if you trust him or not… nothings going to change."

"But…"

"Shh! I'm going out." Rihanna said nervously. "Don't follow me this time."

She didn't even give Reno a chance to answer before she flew out of the door. Reno made to grab his jacket – Yuffie grabbed his arm.

"Reno, you're not going to follow her. Are you really that dense?"

"Yeah, sure." Reno said, distractedly. "Look." He said, looking at her, "I'm not going to follow her. I just need to… go see Rude." He nodded to confirm his story.

"…Alright then."

Reno grabbed his jacket and headed out of the door, completely oblivious to the fact that Yuffie didn't believe a word he had just said.

* * *

"Where would they go….?" Reno said to himself as he walked down the street, completely ignoring the people he walked past who looked at him like he was completely insane. Café's in town seemed the most probable place, so he crossed the road without looking and headed off towards town.

"There you are, you bastard." He muttered to himself as he saw the familiar form of Cloud sitting on a bench by one of the café's. He laughed to himself as he saw that even sitting down, Rihanna was slightly taller than Cloud. He stepped backwards, looking out for somewhere to hide. It was easy to forget that his bright red hair made him easy to spot, especially when Rihanna had been expecting him to follow her.

He spotted a narrow alleyway behind him and jumped in the shadows, ignoring how weird he probably looked. For a brief moment, his heart stopped as Cloud looked over at exactly where he was standing and scowled. Then he shook his head and turned back to Rihanna.

Reno sighed and pulled out his cell phone. Surely those two couldn't be that much longer. He flicked through the games list and got to some sort of car racing game.

"This will pass some time…" he said, pushing the enter button.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yuffie got up and answered the door, wondering who it could be. Her jaw dropped in shock when she saw the bald-headed Turk standing in the doorway.

"Rude!" she said, her voice slightly higher than usual.

"Is Reno in?" he looked slightly annoyed.

"No, I though he'd gone to see you."

"Well, tell him if I find another tin of Brasso hidden in my house, I will tear him limb from limb." His voice was calm and collected but it made Yuffie feel very nervous.

"Umm… Okay, I'll pass on the message."

Yuffie shut the door deep in thought. If Reno hadn't gone to see Rude, there was only one other place he would go…

"Reno, you idiot!" Yuffie said to herself as she grabbed her jacket. Then she put it down again, if he wanted to argue with Rihanna again, it was his choice. She had warned him, and she would no longer have anything to do with it.

* * *

Reno had lost the game, again. He sighed loudly and slammed it shut.

"Stupid company phones… why can't Rufus get us some with decent games? It's not like he's short on money…" he muttered to himself while putting the phone back in his pocket. He looked across and was shocked to see that Cloud and Rihanna had move. He edged slowly out of his alleyway and made his way as close as he could to them, near enough to make out Cloud's voice.

"I'll walk you back…" Reno heard him say, he smirked to himself. If they were going back to his apartment, he knew a shortcut. He raced off back towards the dark alleyway and darted back into shadows. Running blindly down an alleyway was probably not the best idea he'd had, but he's ran down this shortcut millions of times when running away from enemies… or friends as the case may be.

He took s sharp left turn… a little too sharp, and skidded to the floor.

"Oh shit…shit…" he muttered as he briefly looked at his grazed ankle. He concluded it wasn't too bad and scrambled to his feet to carry on sprinting. It may be a shortcut, but it wasn't much shorter and he needed to beat them there.

It was a relief to see sunlight after so long of running in the dark; he slowed his pace as he saw the light ahead of him. He decided he had easily beaten them, and sure enough after 10 minutes of waiting, he saw his red haired sister and the blond walking right by him. They stopped just after Reno's hiding place, and Reno, noticing how close they were, tried to make himself better hidden this time.

"I'll stop here. I don't really want to take the chance that I'll see Reno…" Cloud said, placing his arm around Rihanna's waist.

_Yeah, only 'cause you know I'll rip you apart… _

"It's such a shame it has to be like this, Cloud. If only Reno trusted you a little more…"

"Yeah, but he reason not to trust me… and I don't trust him either. I think Yuffie should think a little more about what she's doing… dating Reno, it's just not right."

Reno felt a surge of anger rush through him; it was one think insulting him, but saying that… it was just over the top. He was surprised he had managed to last so long without jumping out of the alleyway and smacking Cloud.

"Don't worry about Yuffie, I'm sure she knows what she's doing…" Rihanna said, planting a kiss on Cloud's cheek.

"I hope so…"

_Bastard, he needs to get a clue…_

Reno watched them, tempted to throw up as they 'bid their farewells.' He wondered vaguely why Cloud hadn't mentioned Yuffie being pregnant. He couldn't see Yuffie not telling him and Tifa. He was broken out of his chain of though when Rihanna walked off in the direction of Reno's apartment and Cloud paused, thinking for a minute, then walked straight into the alleyway Reno was hiding in. Reno breathed in; if Cloud didn't notice him then that was certainly a miracle of sorts. Then, not for the first time in his life, he thanked god for him being so skinny; if he'd have been even a centimetre bigger, Cloud would have made contact with him when he walked past. The blonde was too transfixed at whatever he was staring at in front of him to actually look in Reno's direction. Then, Reno's heart skipped a beat as he saw what Cloud was looking at; he shrunk further down into the shadows, hopefully not to be seen.

A woman was standing in front of Cloud, her never-faltering gaze fixed on him. She was tall, with black hair and a smirk that made Reno's blood curdle.

"Valicia." Cloud said, nodding at her.

"Well, well Cloud. It's certainly nice to see you." The woman said sarcastically. "Now, you are taking your sweet time, aren't you?"

"Valicia… he-he won't come after us. I'm sorry, I'm doing my best."

"Ha, you'll have to try harder then, won't you Cloud… or I may have to make this whole situation more… tempting for you." She ran a long finger down Cloud's face, making him shudder slightly. "And for Reno too."

Cloud nodded his head, determined not to break eye-contact with Valicia.

"So, will you try harder?" she asked him.

"Yes…"

"Good. And remember; you are dating his sister to get Reno, not for your own pleasure. Don't get attached to her. She will be disposed of as soon as I get Reno."

* * *

A/N: Can anyone guess what's going on yet? XD... and also, if you didn't get the joke about Rude and Brasso - shame on you! You'll have to work it out, hehe it's a prank I pulled on my design teacher, who happens to be bald 


	4. Letting Slip

**A/N: **I sure had a hard time getting this one up... but here it is. I apologise if Tifa is OOC, I'm not really used to writing for her. And I don't like the fact that there's so much dialogue in this one, but I had to put it in there. And to Ruby: Thank you so much for the reviews, there will be lots more Reno hurt/comfort etc. coming up very soon!!**

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**Chapter 4 – Letting Slip**

Reno carried on walking, despite having no idea where he was going. He had walked off in the complete opposite direction to his apartment, although he wasn't sure why he didn't go straight back there.

_I can't believe this; I can't believe what I've just heard. What the hell am I supposed to do now? I can't tell Rihanna I followed her, and even if I did, she wouldn't believe me, and think I was just trying to make Cloud out as a bad guy…_

Reno couldn't stop thinking about it, the whole situation was so terrible, and there was nothing he could do about it, without risking seriously damaging his relationship with both Rihanna and Yuffie. He was so absorbed in his thoughts; he didn't see the woman he walked into.

"Sorry…" he muttered and made to walk past her, but he felt a strong hand grip his wrist and she pulled him back.

"Reno." She said, coldly. Standing before him, with pure hatred in her wine-colored eyes, was Tifa Lockheart.

"Umm…" Reno said awkwardly. She still hadn't loosened her grip on his wrist and it was started to become uncomfortable.

"I hope you're happy." She hissed at him. Reno sighed; he knew exactly what this was about: Yuffie.

"Well… I was expecting this…" he said rolling his eyes.

"Oh, so you do know?" she said, louder, "I thought you might. Everyone seemed to know before I did… I suppose _she _told you?"

Reno didn't know what to say, the emphasis and the hatred she put into the word 'she' told him that it was not about Yuffie.

"Wha..?"

"Your sister!" She was almost shouting now, tears in her eyes, "I really hope that slut's happy. I tried so hard with Cloud, after Aerith…"

"Don't you dare…" Reno said, now with equal anger in his voice. He now knew what she was talking about. "It's not my fault, and it's certainly not Rihanna's fault… what about Cloud? You never thought that it was his fault, did you? Why don't you ask him_ why_ he's doin' it, 'cause it certainly ain't 'cause he loves her."

"Don't blame Cloud. It's not his fault your sister's a dirty slut… runs in the family I suppose?"

"Don't you dare!" Reno shouted, he tried to pull his wrist back, but she still had a strong hold of it, so it resulted in a painful snap. She finally let go, and turned to slap Reno in the face. "You think I want them to be together?" he hissed, putting a hand to his burning cheek.

"I don't know!" she was shouting now too, tears streaming down her face. She went to slap Reno again, but he grabbed hold of her wrist just in time.

"I know the feeling Lockhart, you're only desperate for someone to blame it on…"

"No, I'm not; I know whose fault it is!"

"Why don't you go to the Sector 5 slums? Then you'll see whose fault it is." Reno let go of her wrist and it felt limply by her side. Reno stared at her. Not for the first time that day, he was wondering why no one had mentioned Yuffie being pregnant.

"Don't try and trick me, Reno. You just try and protect your little sister… but I know the truth."

"No, you don't. You don't have a clue. Don't you realise? Me, Rihanna, Cloud… all our lives are in danger. You need to get Cloud to stop all this."

"What? What are you talking about?" she stared at Reno blankly, "You're trying to change the subject!"

"No, I'm not…"

"Yes, you are! And it's not gonna work!" her limp fist tightened and flew towards Reno. Luckily, he was ready for it and he jumped out of the way. She growled and tried again, this time Reno caught her fist and threw it backwards.

"You know, I won't hit a woman, Lockhart. So you can hit me till you knock me out… I won't be any match if I'm not defending myself." He smirked at her, temporarily forgetting what they were fighting about.

Tifa screamed in annoyance and threw her fist at him again, he caught it again, but this time he didn't throw it backwards.

"You spoken to Yuffie lately?" he asked her, casually.

"Yes, I have." she tried to pull her fist away but Reno didn't let go.

"Hmph, well maybe you ought to talk to her again… looks like Cloud's not the only one keeping things from you."

He let go of her hand and walked away, this time in the direction of his apartment. He half expected Tifa to follow him, but she didn't, so he didn't bother to look behind him as he walked back home.

* * *

Reno paused before he opened the door. He could hear voices within.

"…This is Reno we're talking about…" he heard Yuffie's voice say.

"Yeah, but still, even he's gonna notice eventually, especially in nine months…" Elena's voice replied.

"Notice what?" Reno said loudly. He couldn't help but snigger as the two girls jumped.

"Oh, hey Reno." Elena said, turning around to smile at Reno.

"Hey Reno." Yuffie said, grinning.

"Notice what?" Reno repeated, sitting down.

"Oh nothing." Yuffie said casually. "Rihanna's upstairs by the way, before you ask… have fun with Rude?"

"I… I didn't go see Rude after all…"

"Oh right, I thought it was weird that he came over asking for you…"

Reno sighed in relief. _Lucky choice of words there…_

"Anyway, I'm going now…" Elena said, jumping to her feet. "I'll see you at work tomorrow Reno."

"Yeah, see ya, 'Laney."

"Reno…" Yuffie said after Elena had gone, "What's the matter?"

"Huh?"

"You've been distant since you came back, are you ok?"

Reno looked at her, and saw her eyes widen.

"What happened to your face?" she asked, shocked.

"Oh, umm… I ran into someone."  
"Who?"

"Tifa…" he muttered.

"Sorry?"

"Tifa." He said louder, "Tifa Lockhart."

"Tifa!? Did she hit you?"

"Yeah… because of Rihanna."

"Rihanna and Cloud? Oh, god Reno… what did you say to her?"

"Nothing. I didn't say anything…"

"Oh, Reno…" she took his hand and felt him flinch. "Your hand too?"

"Yeah… just leave it… I'm ok."

"You're sure?"

Reno nodded his head and Yuffie let go of his hand and she went into the kitchen.

"Umm Yuffie?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you haven't told Cloud or Tifa about… you know…"

"What makes you say that?"

"Tifa didn't even mention it. I'd have thought she's have made as many excuses as possible for hitting me…"

"Oh… it was gonna… umm… be a surprise…" she said vaguely.

Reno didn't push the issue; he just sat and waited for Yuffie until she came back with two mugs of coffee.

"Thanks." He said, taking his. Yuffie sat down next to him and smiled.

"Listen, Reno… you're not too worried about the baby, are you?"

"No…" he said, taking a sip of his coffee. He ignored the fact that his hands were shaking.

"You just… you've seemed really, really preoccupied since I told you."

"Yeah well… it's still pretty… nerve-wracking, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah…" Yuffie wrung her hands together, "I just don't want you to be too worried about it, OK?"

"I'm not…"

"Yeah, ok."

* * *

For probably the first time in his life, Reno was early for work. He had been sitting in the cafeteria for 2 hours, drinking coffee, and despite the fact that work started an hour ago, nobody had come looking for him: probably because they were so used to him being late.

He didn't know why he had come in so early, and he hadn't really achieved anything by doing so. All he had done was think, which in Reno's case was usually a bad thing. He needed to tell someone about Cloud, but the two people he trusted most had already been ruled out. He definitely couldn't tell Rihanna, and he was even reluctant to tell Yuffie. Rude usually listened but didn't give any advice, so the next person on his list was…

"Elena?" Reno said, the blonde had just walked into the cafeteria.

"Reno, what are you doing in here?" she said, sitting down next to him.

"Drinkin' coffee."

"I know that… but how long have you been here?"

"Two hours." He said, looking at his watch.

"You were early? Then what are you doing sitting in here?"

"Drinkin' coffee." Reno repeated. Elena growled under her breath. "What! You ask a stupid question when it's blatantly obvious what the answer is."

"Just get to the office."

"'Laney, wait!" he said, "I wanna ask you something."  
"What?" she said rolling her eyes.

"Can we meet up somewhere later? I wanna talk to you about something…"

Elena looked at him, her expression softened. Obviously seeing the rare look of seriousness in Reno's eyes had some effect.

"Ok then. Where do you want me to meet you?"

"You know my apartment? You go through that little alleyway, and there's a café? There."

"Alright, what time."

"7 o'clock?"

"Okay, and Reno?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be late."

* * *

A/N: hehe, Reno nearly got beaten up by a girl 


	5. Confiding

**A/N: **Hehe I like this chapter. Don't even ask about the last part, it was something I thought of ages ago and I was desperate to put it in!!

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Confiding**

At 7:15 Reno stepped casually inside the café to meet Elena. Just as he suspected, she was already there, and sitting alone drinking coffee. Smiling, Reno sat down next to her.

"Do you always have to be late for everything?"

"Hey, this is early for me. Besides, there is a reason I'm late for everything…"

"Oh yeah?" Elena said sceptically, raising her eyebrows. "What's that then?"

"So I don't have to wait." He replied smirking.

"Right… so what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well… it's about Rihanna and Cloud…"

"Reno, before you start, I know you don't like it. But Rihanna's right, it's no different to you and Yuffie…"

"Actually," Reno interrupted her loudly, "I wasn't going to say that."

"Oh really? Well go on then?" Elena found it strange that Reno was deciding to tell her whatever was, rather than Yuffie.

"Well, I kinda followed them…" he said awkwardly, "And I… well, after Rihanna had left, I followed Cloud, and he was talking to a woman…"

"Woman? What woman?"

"I thought… I…" his voice began to shake.

"Reno?" Elena said concernedly.

"Vanessa…"

"Vanessa? But she's…"

"Dead, I know. But whoever she was, she sure as hell looked like her… Valicia, Cloud said."

"Reno… are you being serious?"

"Yes." He snapped slightly, "I told you 'cause I didn't think Yuffie or Rihanna would believe me."

"Oh, Reno. I thought this was all over…" Elena ran her hand through her short blond hair.

"I know… but now I don't know what to do…"

"What did this woman say to Cloud?"

"She said something like… well it seemed like she was bribing Cloud to get to me…"

"Get to you? So that means…"

"That Cloud is only dating Rihanna to get me." Reno said nodding his head. "And nobody else is ever gonna believe me…"

"This is… we have to tell Tseng. You're in danger again!"

"You think Tseng will believe me?"

"He'll have to."

* * *

Reno couldn't help it; he was nervous about talking to Tseng. It wasn't like him, but he was convinced that he wasn't going to believe him.

"Come on, Reno!" Elena pleaded. She tried to drag him further towards Tseng's office door.

"Alright, alright, I'm going." He stepped forwards opened Tseng door slowly.

"Reno, how many times do I have to tell you to knock before you come in my office?" Tseng said, not looking up from the work he was doing.

"Sorry. Me and 'Laney gotta talk to you."

"Go ahead." He looked up expectantly.

Reno told Tseng everything he had told Elena, he was interrupted sometimes by Elena correcting him, but Tseng stayed silent, listening intently. When he had finished, Tseng simply stared at him.

"You know what this means, don't you Reno?"

"Yeah, it means I'm probably gonna be killed…"

"Not if we can avoid it…"  
"But sir!" Elena interrupted, "Rihanna said before that to cure a vampire, you kill the clan leader. That was Vanessa, and she's dead."

"You are certain she was a vampire, Reno?"

"Yeah, sure I am. She had the eyes and everything…"

"Okay, well if Vanessa was the clan leader… Reno, you say she looked like Vanessa?"

"Yeah…"

"Daughter maybe… I heard that there are some vampires that cannot be cured – the original vampires, the first ones."

"So there could be loads of them?" Elena said, "What if they all know about Reno?"

"Vanessa had one daughter…" Reno told them, "I just couldn't remember her name, it must be Valicia though."

"So it's possible then…"

"But what about Yuffie and Rihanna?" Reno asked. "They're never gonna believe it…"

Reno suddenly remembered something. The one part of the conversation that he hadn't mentioned to either Elena or Tseng.

"_Ha, you'll have to try harder then, won't you Cloud… or I may have to make this whole situation more… tempting for you. And for Reno too."_

More tempting for both of them? What could she possibly do that they would both care about…?

"You two, there's some paperwork for you to do. Would you mind…?" Tseng said, bringing Reno out of his thoughtful state.

"Yes, sir." Elena said obediently. She got to her feet and headed out of Tseng's office.

"Reno, we will deal with your problem as soon as possible. But for now, we need to keep things as normal as possible…"

"Okay…" Reno headed out after Elena.

* * *

"Reno, are you going to do some work?" Elena asked him impatiently. Reno was sitting by her desk, fiddling with her pen.

"Tseng said we need to keep things as normal as possible…" he said lazily.

"Hmph, yeah right…"

"Hey, 'Laney?" Reno said about 5 minutes later.

"What?"

"I bet you that I can pin a drink of water to the wall." He said grinning.

"Reno, you think I have nothing better to do than watch you pin a drink of water to the wall?"

"I'm talking a glass of water here, not just a paper cup."

"Go on then." Elena said sceptically. She folded her arms expectantly. Reno smirked and took the glass of water that was on Elena's desk, and a pin. Elena stood up and stood by Reno, to make sure he wasn't cheating. Holding the glass next to the wall, he carefully put the pin towards it, and then dropped it.

"Ahh shit, 'Laney, pick it up for me…" he said.

"No."

"But I got it in the right place and everything!" he whined. Sighing, Elena bent down to pick up the pin from the floor. Suddenly she screamed as something icy cold washed over her, soaking her hair and most of her uniform. She looked up just as Reno cracked up with laughter, holding an empty glass.

"Ha…'Lena, I can't believe you fell for it…" he gasped.

"Reno!" Elena screamed.

Suddenly Tseng walked into the room. "Reno, do you want me to kill you before Valicia does, it will save a whole lot of trouble?" Tseng said impatiently.

"No… sorry… sir…" Reno replied, still laughing.

"Then get to work."


	6. Bait

**A/N: **Hmmmm I was pretty pleased with how this chapter turned out. Thanks Ruby for your vampire info, i will bare that in mind in futute chapters. Well, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Bait**

"'Laney?" Reno poked Elena in the arm.

"What?" she snapped.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"…No Reno." She sighed, putting the rest of her papers in a draw in her desk.

"What? I don't believe you!"

"Fine then," she shrugged, "Don't believe me."

Reno looked at her cautiously, then followed her out of her office.

"'Lena?"

"Yes, Reno?" she said unusually politely.  
"Umm…nothing."

"Okay…" she carried on walking, with Reno at her heels.

"Reno?" Reno turned around to see Rihanna walking down the corridor behind them. They slowed down so she could catch up. "It's not like you to stay later than necessary." She said.

"I was waitin' for 'Lena." Reno said slightly awkwardly. He felt bad for not telling Rihanna about Cloud, if only she would believe him.

"Oh right. You coming back with us?" she asked Elena.

"Umm, yeah okay I guess."

"Elena?" Reno said quietly. "Are you really not mad at me? You're not gonna… do anything are you?"

"God, Reno, what is wrong with you? You are so anxious lately…"

"Am I?"

"Yeah, I can't believe you haven't noticed."

Reno stared at her blankly and then turned to Rihanna. She looked away sharply when she caught his gaze.

"Sorry Reno, she's right."

"Oh…"

"We'll shake okay?" Elena suggested, "You don't do anything to me, I won't do anything to you."

"Okay…" Reno took her hand and shook it, looking slightly bemused.

"Right. Let's go then."

* * *

When they arrived at Reno's apartment, Yuffie was nowhere to be seen. 

"What? Where is she?" Reno said, confused.

"Ha, Reno. She doesn't actually live here you know." Rihanna said, "She's probably gone back to her own apartment for something."

"Yeah, right. Don't worry, Reno…" Elena said, she paused for a minute before adding, "I never thought I'd say that."

"Shut it." Reno said, smirking slightly.

Later that night there was still no Yuffie. Rihanna had gone to bed hours ago because of a headache and Elena was falling asleep on the couch next to Reno. All Reno could think about was Yuffie. She was not picking up her cell phone, and that definitely wasn't like her.

"_Ha, you'll have to try harder then, won't you Cloud… or I may have to make this whole situation more… tempting for you. And for Reno too."_

These words kept spinning around inside Reno's head. What did that mean… what was the one thing that Valicia could do to persuade both of them? What did they both care about? Then it came to him…

"Yuffie…" He nudged Elena. "'Lena, wake up."

Elena opened her eyes sharply and stared at Reno. "What is it?"

"Yuffie…"

"What about her?"

"I think… Valicia has taken her."

"What the… what makes you think that?"

"Something that she said to Cloud. Please, we have to go to her apartment…"

"What? Reno, it's late."

"I know, but I need to know that she's ok. Please?" he sounded almost desperate.

Elena grabbed her jacket from the back of Reno's couch. "I never thought you would ever care this much about someone."

* * *

The absent of light in Yuffie apartment windows made Reno's heart sink. Elena had been right in one sense. He had in fact, not realised how much he cared about Yuffie. 

"Yuffie?" he knocked loudly on the door.

"Reno, it's no good, she's not there." Elena put a hand on his shoulder, but he ignored it. Instead he took a step back, and kicked the door as hard as he could. It swung open.

"Reno, you can't just…"

"Shh." Reno said sharply.

They stepped inside the pitch black hallway, and Elena flicked on a light switch. Indeed their suspicions had been correct; Yuffie was nowhere to be seen. As they stepped into the living room, and piece of pale blue paper on the coffee table caught his attention. He picked it up and read it aloud.

"_If it's you that's reading this, Reno, then it appears you have figured out what I have done. I have taken Yuffie, and she will not be difficult to find. Come and get her if you want, all I want in exchange is you… _Charming." He added on the end.

"Reno, what are we going to do?" Elena said anxiously.

"And you said I was the anxious one… c'mon 'Lena, we got Rihanna back from Vanessa, this is gonna be piss easy…"

"Reno, I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you." She picked the paper up and read it through herself. "This all seems too simple."

"Well of course it is. She wants me; she wants to kill me. She's gonna make it simple to find her."

"No, Reno. She knows you killed Vanessa, she must do. Then she must know of the risks she is taking by luring you to her."

"I don't…"

"Valicia must know there's a chance her luck will turn and you will kill her, so she must know something we don't."

"Something we don't like what?"

"Like… an advantage she had over us."

"But…"

"I think, if we're gonna go after Yuffie, this time we need to be a little better prepared. We have to tell Tseng first thing tomorrow."


	7. Eht Iatuw Seripmav

**A/N: **M'kay, this is gonna seem a little weird at first, but it will all become clear soon enough. I don't know why, but this chapter reminds me of Ron and Hermione from Harry Potter lol... free cookies for anyone who can work out what the title is! **

* * *

**

**Chapter 7 - Eht Iatuw Seripmav**

The next day, Reno and Elena eventually managed to get their point across to Tseng. As soon as they finished, Tseng looked straight to Reno.

"You're not going to do anything stupid, are you Reno?"

"What? How can I do something stupid? We're gonna go get her, right?" he replied slightly ecstatically.

"Reno, Elena is right in what she says. We need to know what we're up against before we go. Remember last time, you nearly got yourself killed."

"But Yuffie can't wait! What if…?"

"Reno." Elena interrupted, "I don't think Valicia will do anything to Yuffie. She's only using her as bait, it's you she wants."

"What a vote of confidence…" Reno said sarcastically.

"Anyway," Tseng said, ignoring Reno, "We need to know more, about the vampire clan in Sector 5 slums."

"Surely they aren't necessarily a clan in themselves." Elena suggested, "The vampires could be from all across the planet."

"True. But we still need to know more about them. Reno, Elena… I'll leave it to you. And be quick about it."

"C'mon Reno." Elena grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the room.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Reno asked hurriedly. Elena was walking at an unusually fast pace and still hand let go of Reno's hand.

"You'll see." She said, panting slightly.

"Elena, stop!" Reno said desperately. When she ignored him, he picked up his pace so he was next to her, and put his foot in front of hers.

"Ahhh, Reno!" she screamed. She didn't quite fall over, but it was still enough to crack a laugh out of Reno.

"'Lena, where are we goin'? This is like, the ancient part of the Shinra building. What the hell we doin' down here?"

"Ok, Reno. For a start, if you're going to talk to me, use proper English. And secondly, follow me."

She started off walking again, this time a little slower, but still holding onto Reno, hand, quite tightly.

"'Lena, would you mind letting go of my hand, I'm not gonna run away." Reno said quickly.

"Sorry." She said letting go of his arm sharply.

As the two of them carried on walking, the seemed to get further and further away from civilization, the corridors were darker and there seemed to be no noise around them at all.

"'Lena, seriously, where the hell are we? I didn't even know the building went on as far as this."

"That's because you never bother to get off your ass and actually do something. I was sent down here by Hojo, and it's out of bounds."

"Out of bounds? Oooh 'Laney, you're getting to be a bit of a rebel aren't you?"

"Shut up Reno." Elena said, laughing slightly.

Eventually, they reached the end of the corridor. It was so dark they could hardly see the giant 10-foot high door in front of them. Elena put her hand on the door and pushed it open. It creaked slightly and lead them into a wide, spacious room, lined with hundreds of bookshelves.

"A library?!" Reno said, taken-aback. "You brought me to a library?"

"Oh get over it Reno. It will help us find some more information about the vampires."

"Great, so I get to spend my whole day reading non-fiction with you. What a joy!" Reno said, extremely sarcastically.

"You want to save Yuffie, no?"

"Yeah but…"

"Don't worry Reno, I understand how illiterate you are. Just do your best."

Reno pouted and walked off slowly in the opposite direction as Elena. He could hardly see, but that didn't seem important to him. He wasn't planning on reading anything anyway. But suddenly, one book caught his eye, it stood out from the rest of the dark books with its white cover. He pulled it out, and from the extremely dim light from the window somewhere behind him, he could just make out the title "Eht Iatuw Seripmav"

"What the...? I knew there was a reason I didn't like readin'" He tucked the book under his arm and went off to find Elena.

"'Lena?" he said loudly, trying to find the door they came in by.

"Here, Reno." He looked behind him to see Elena standing by a large table, several books in front of her. "I found a few. We'd better take them back; we're not gonna be able to read them here."

"Uh right…" Reno said. Reno pushed the door open for Elena and just before he followed her, he couldn't get rid of the feeling that someone was watching him.


	8. Resolution

**A/N: **Okay from now on, if you understand what this is all about, don't put it in your review (I still want the reviews) But I don't want people to cheat and read them

I'm proud of my idea and the whole point is for you to work it out!!

And yes Ruby, you do win hands you some invisible cookies I don't have any cookies! Ahh I'm sorry!! XD

**

* * *

** **Resolution**

When they eventually got back up to the proper building, Reno and Elena both headed straight into Elena's office, much to the inconvenience of Reno.

"C'mon Reno, you have to help me. We need to know as much as we can."

"Just hang on." Reno said, stressfully. He sat down on Elena's chair and took the book out from under his arm.

"What's that?" Elena asked curiously.

"I don't know." Reno looked at it. The title was written in bright blue ink, and the white cover was surprisingly pristine, like it hadn't been there as long as the other books. He turned it over in his hands and in scarlet ink in the bottom right corner, two words were written…

"Reno Eyr?"

"What?" Elena looked back at him.

"That's what it says on the back, look." He handed the book to Elena, who looked at it, her eyes wide with shock.

"Reno, where the hell did you find this?" Elena opened the book. Reno could see that it was written in emerald green ink.

"I don't know… it just… caught my eye."

"Right…" Reno could see her eyes scanning across the text, "It's no good, you can't read it…" She shut it again and handed it back to Reno who promptly opened it again.

"_Eht Dnegel fp eht Seipmav morf Iatuw…Eht seripmav morf Iatuw erew syawla regnorts; erom lufrewop naht yna retho eripmav ssorca eht tenalp. Neht emac eht noitulove, nehw eht seripmav erew tilp trapa morf hcae rehto. Emos tnew ot Nonuj, emos ot Miehlebin, tub tsom fo meht tnew ot eht rotces 6 smuls ni Ragdim. Gnuoma eseht saw eht lanigiro nlac redael, Assenav Eyr, dna reh rethguad Aicilav. Ti si llits thguoht ssorca eht tenalp taht eseht owt seripvam era eht tsom lufrewop yb raf, dna ti sekat erom egaruoc dna rewop ot yortsed meht. Ekilnu rehto seripmav, yna latrom nac yortsed meht… ti tsuj sekat a ecrof erom lufrewop naht yna rehto; ecifircas. Fi yeht era ginlliw ot ecifircas sevlesmeht for eht eripvam ot eb deyortsed, neht ti nac neppah…"_

"Random." Reno said shutting it. "Is it like French or something?"

"Reno don't be stupid…" Elena sighed, "It's not gonna help us."

She sat and opened one of her books called _"Vampire's of The Planet"_

"Vampires are… no…" she flicked through the pages.

"'Lena, did you just get all the books you could find on vampires?" Reno said, browsing through her selection.

"No, just as many as I could carry." Elena said vaguely, still reading."A vampire can live for hundreds of years? That's not what we wanted to know at all…"

Reno sat looking through his own book while Elena read through hers. Every now and then he sighed impatiently and unnecessarily loudly, just to remind Elena that he was still there. Then suddenly, Elena looked up sharply.

"Reno, I've found something… listen to this… 'One of the first vampires on record, is Vanessa Rye, daughter of Oner Rye. She became one of the most powerful clan leaders in the world, even though none of her ancestors, including her father were vampires…"

"Great so we know who her father is… how is that helping us?"

"Well it's a start, and it's more helpful than that…" she pointed to the book next to Reno.

"Hang on a second, that would mean Vanessa was like hundreds of years old…" Reno said suddenly.

"Yeah… so she was around for that long and we were the first one's to take a shot at her. That doesn't sound right…"

"No it doesn't. If she was the clan leader, you would have thought more people would have had a shot… maybe even some of the vampires."

"Unless, like I said, she knows something we don't." Elena frowned. "But what could it be."

"Your guess is as good as mine…" Reno shrugged.

"Well, it can't hurt to know a little more about the vampires, can it? And there might be something hidden in one of these books."

* * *

About half an hour went by where neither of them said a word. Reno didn't even sigh impatiently. All he could think about was Yuffie; where she might be right now, and what was happening to her… because after all, it was his fault this had happened.

"Well that explains why no one took a shot at her…" Elena said suddenly. Reno looked up at her. "Listen… before the evolution, most of the population feared the clan leaders and left them to their own devices… even those who didn't fear them just stayed out of their business. Although the vampires were remarkably intelligent, there was always one thing they over-looked; simplicity. People took to writing things backwards when they didn't want their information to spread to the vampires because they always passed it off as something unimportant…"

"So people were scared of her? But surely there was someone strong enough to take her on…"

"No… remember what she said? A vampire can only be killed by another vampire…"

"Oh yeah… hang on a minute… if that's true, how are we supposed to get rid of Valicia?"

"You're right…"

"Oh god, this sucks. Why can't we just go and take a chance on it?"

"No Reno. We can't… I don't want you to get hurt again!"

"Yeah, but what about Yuffie? Valicia may not kill her, but that doesn't stop her hurting her, she's cruel…"

"Reno, we can't just run in on her… not like what we did with Vanessa."

"Not many people knew Vanessa as well as I did," Reno said quietly, "Not many that are still alive today that is. And I know Valicia will be the same…"

Elena stared at Reno; she had seriously never seen him this serious about anything. His eyes which were usually bright with either joviality or sarcasm were dull and solemn. Elena never thought it would happen, but Reno had actually found someone he cared that much about… he missed her, she could tell.

"Listen, Reno…" Elena said as kindly as she could, "I know you miss her, but if we go, we'd be risking all of our lives."

"I know…" he replied, "And I don't want that…"

**

* * *

**Well, that's it for that chapter… remember, if you know what's going to happen, please DON'T post it in a review. It is possible to work out what's going to happen from this chapter. 


	9. Deja Vu

**A/N: **Woooo! Chapter 9 already… the plot really gets going now. This is were the real hurt/comfort thing will start, next chapter, maybe the one after. And I know this is a short chapter, but it's only this one, I promise

**

* * *

**

That night, Reno couldn't concentrate on anything. He sat with Rihanna, who decided to stay behind to keep him company, but they hardly talked.

"Reno?" Rihanna said, "Are you alright? I mean… I know you're not but…"

"It's ok, Rihanna." Reno said, as happily as he could. "We'll get her back… we got you back after all."

"And you… I thought we'd lost you that day you know." Rihanna looked at him. "So I know exactly how you feel, when you vanished along with Vanessa… I didn't know what to do, especially as you'd just been stabbed."

"But… the rate we're going, we're never gonna get her."

"Reno, you have to understand what Tseng and Elena are saying. Think of all that went wrong last time."

"I know… 'Lena said she was takin' some of them old books home with her… I'm gonna call her see if she's got any leads…"

"Alright…"

Reno pulled out his cell phone and dialled Elena's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Laney…"

"Oh hey Reno…"

"Have you found anything else out yet?"

"Ummm, not much really. Just a little bit about that Oner Rye guy…"

"What about him?"

"Well, it turns out he was scared of his daughter as well… he even wrote how someone could get rid of them… it was some sort of book, but no one knows exactly where it is."

"Oh right… so the only way we're gonna know for definite how to kill her is to find Oner's book…"

"Not necessarily Reno. Someone else might have read the book, or heard the legend."

"Right… just let me know if you find any thing else out okay?"

"Hmm, ok Reno. Night."

"Well?" Rihanna asked him.

"She hasn't really found anything else out… only more about Vanessa's father…"

"Oh right… don't worry Reno. We'll find her."

"Yeah, I hope so…"

"I'm going to bed, night Reno."

"Night."

Reno sat alone… until something caught his eye. The book he had been looking at earlier. Reno Eyr… then he realised. Reno Eyr… Oner Rye. He grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen and opened the book, then started to write. As he got to the end his hand started to tremble.

"Well, that's it…" Reno said to himself, grabbing his jacket. "That's all the research I need."

* * *

It was a place he had hoped he'd never have to see again… this is where it all began, and ended. And now he was about to do it all over again, alone. The question was, could he do it? Last time he had been with Tseng, Rude and Elena the whole time, and if it wasn't for them, he probably wouldn't have made it out alive. This time he would just have to keep control. At least he wasn't a vampire anymore.

"Valicia had warned us you might come." Reno heard a voice behind him. He turned around to see a man, probably a little younger than Reno, with jet black hair and red eyes; a vampire, "But she wasn't expecting you to come alone." He grinned and moved closer to Reno.


	10. Pathway to Oblivion

**A/N: **wooo update!! I'm really into writing this now. I noticed that when I write, I probably put way too much speech in, and not enough description, so I've tried to even it out a little, and I really enjoyed writing this one. Well, enjoy!

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**Chapter 10 – Pathway to Oblivion**

"Who are you?" Reno stepped back. Usually he wouldn't be unnerved, but the fact that someone's life could be resting in his hands again was enough to worry anyone.

"You spend all your time asking things like that and your life is gonna be remarkably short." The man said, grinning evilly. It was shocking how much this man reminded Reno of Tseng… and he wasn't even sure why. "I'm afraid I can't let you go any further."

"I hope you don't think I'm that stupid." Reno said, more confidently. "I know you want me to pass you… Valicia wants me to go to her, that's why she kidnapped Yuffie."

"Well, well, well. It seems we underestimated you." The man smirked, "But just because Valicia wants you alive, doesn't mean I can't hurt you. In fact…" He moved in on Reno, "She might be grateful if I… weaken you up for her. Perhaps coming alone wasn't such a good idea after all…"

"I came alone… because I don't want to risk anyone else's life…"

"Well, no matter how selfless you try and make yourself seem… I know why you really came alone."

"What are you talking about?"

"Reno of the Turks… playing the hero. Maybe earn you a little more respect…"

"Get a clue!" Reno shouted, his temper had just reached the end of its fuse. He rushed forwards and tried to strike the man… but he dodged.

"You know… I don't know why I'm wasting time like this… if you've really done your research, you'll know what you have to do… so I'll leave you to it. Have fun, Reno." At that, he smirked and seemed to vanish into thin air.

Reno pulled out his EMR and stared at the building ahead of him… well, it was now or never, and waiting around wasn't going to make it any easier. It was just the thought of going at it alone, it scared him slightly.

He walked slowly towards the building, ignoring his speeding pulse. The door was slightly open, and under normal circumstances, he would have found this strange, but he knew Valicia was purposely leading him to her.

Inside the building was just the same as before; nothing had changed except the statue that had been in the centre had now vanished. In the darkness of the window-lacking room, he couldn't see anything more that about 5 meters ahead of him. EMR at the ready, he walked cautiously forwards; if he was going to be killed, it would be by Valicia, no one else.

He had no idea where he was going, but he kept walking forwards blindly anyway. Then gradually, he started to hear something cutting through the otherwise silent atmosphere; the sound of crying, and it sounded somewhat familiar. He rushed forward to try and find the source of the noise, looking wildly around him as he ran.

"Yuffie?" he said, as loudly as he dared. The crying instantly subsided.

"Reno?" he heard Yuffie's voice call back. She sounded so close, yet Reno had no idea where she was. "Reno, you shouldn't have come, you know what's going to happen…"

"Yeah, I know." Reno interrupted her, still trying to find a way to get to Yuffie.

"You have to get out…"

"No, I'm not going anywhere…"

"You certainly aren't…" Reno turned around to meet a pair of scarlet eyes, and a familiar, evil smirk.

* * *

"Elena?" The blonde haired woman looked up to see Rihanna standing in the doorway, looking extremely upset.  
"What's wrong?" she asked sympathetically. She got up from her desk and walked over to Rihanna.

"I… I don't know where Reno is… I got up this morning and he wasn't there, and he's not here either…"

"Has he not turned up for work? I thought it was a little quiet."

"I'm worried he's done something stupid…"

"Well, did he leave a note or anything?" Elena didn't really know what to say. It was common for Reno to disappear for days at a time, but she figured that wasn't a very appropriate thing to say.

"I don't know… I didn't check around…"

"Well, go home, cheer yourself up, and see if you can figure out where he went, ok?"

"Ok… where… where's Tseng?"

"Oh, he's in a meeting with Rufus at the moment, but just go. I'll tell Tseng, I'm sure he'll understand."

"Oh… ok. Thank you." Rihanna rubbed her eyes and attempted a smile before leaving her office.

Elena sat back down and sighed. Reno had to be somewhere… but Rihanna was right. Considering present circumstances, she wouldn't put it past Reno to do something incredibly stupid. She pulled out her cell phone and dialled Reno's number. After letting it ring for a couple of minutes, she heard a familiar click as it switched over to voicemail.

"_Hey, you've reached Reno's voicemail… either I'm not here, or I don't feel like talking to you right now… and if that's Tseng, stop calling me, I don't care if my report's over due…"_

Elena pressed the cancel button and smile slightly. She couldn't help but be amused by Reno's voicemail message… it was just like him. But thinking about this got her even more worried. What if he _was _in danger?


	11. Silver

**A/N: **wooo! I'm so into this story now, I'll be sad when it's finished : ( Oh well... the Reno Hurt/Comfort will probably start next chapter. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 11 - Silver**

"So you decided to come after all?" Valicia said smugly, "I'm glad you decided to make things a little easier for me."

"Just get on with it." Reno said, in a slightly defeated voice. Even he was shocked at how he sounded.

"Patience, my dear Reno, patience. Just because you know what has to happen in the end, doesn't mean I can't have my fun with you first."

It was her arrogance that annoyed him the most. Not only was he having to sacrifice himself, but now she was going to make it humiliating as well. He knew that a lot of people would call him arrogant, but this was just… beyond him. He could feel the anger boiling up inside him, and he was struggling to keep it under control. Control was exactly what he needed though… but all these conditions, Yuffie being kidnapped, Valicia trying to make a fool of him, it made it so hard.

"So, Reno… how much did you find out? You found my grandfathers book I suppose? After he so kindly planted it in that old library all those years ago…"

"Just quit the speech and get on with whatever you're gonna do." Reno said quietly. He looked Valicia straight in the eye all the time, to show he wasn't afraid of her.

"Temper, temper… now tell me Reno, have you really thought about what you're about to do?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well… have you not thought that coming alone might not be as successful as you thought? I don't think you truly understand how this is going to work."

"I understand… we'll both die."

"Ah, you see; that's where you're wrong. _You _will die, I will not."

"Just shut up… you're going as well, that's the whole point… right?"

"Right… but once you're dead, after most kindly sacrificing yourself, how are you going to kill me then?" Valicia grinned evilly.

* * *

"Sir?" Elena said loudly, Tseng looked up from his work.

"Yes, Elena?"  
"Umm, do you know where Reno is? Me and Rihanna were scared that he's gone and done something stupid."

"Reno? I noticed he wasn't here today… where is Rihanna?"

"I told her to go home… I hope you don't mind sir, but she was really upset…"

"Alright… have you tried called Reno?"

"Yeah, he's not picking up."

"Right… go back to Reno's apartment, and see if you can find out where he is."

"But, Sir…"

"There's no work here that can't wait… the most important thing right now is making sure Reno is safe."

Elena nodded her head and headed straight out of the building. Together, her and Rihanna had to be able to find something to give them a clue… but if the worst had happened, and Reno had gone after Yuffie, then… she didn't want to think about it. Her heart began to beat faster as she turned into Reno's street, she didn't like suspense, and the whole situation was so risky, one wrong move from Reno and snap, he was gone.

"Rihanna?" Elena said as she opened Reno's door. She walked inside to see Rihanna sat on the couch, clutching a piece of paper. She was almost in hysterics.

"He… he's g-gone after her…" he said between sobs. She handed her the piece of paper. Elena could see a paragraph on it written in Reno's small, untidy handwriting:

"_The Wutai Vampires – Oner Rye_

_The Legend of the Vampires from Wutai_

_The vampires from Wutai were always stronger; more powerful than any other vampire across the planet. Then came the evolution, when the vampires were split apart from each other. Some went to Junon, some to Nibelheim, but most of them went to the sector 6 slums in Midgar. Amoung these, was the original clan leader, Vanessa Rye, and her daughter Valicia. It is still thought across the planet that these two vampires are the most powerful by far, and it takes more courage and power to destroy them. Unlike other vampires, any mortal can destroy them… it just takes a force more powerful than any other; sacrifice. If they are quite willing to sacrifice themselves for the vampire to be destroyed, then it can happen…"_

"That's what was written in that book…" Elena said after she's finished reading, "It was backwards." She ran her hand through her hair; it was all so obvious.

"He's gone…" Rihanna said, suddenly managing to pull herself together. "I know it… he went there to sacrifice himself for Yuffie… that's why he didn't tell us, because he knew we wouldn't let him go."

"Oh, Reno…" Elena sighed, "There has to be something… a different way that doesn't involve anyone dying."

Rihanna didn't reply, but tears began streaming from her shining green eyes again. Elena suddenly felt a huge wave of pity for her. Although she was worried about Reno as well, he was her big brother… when they had gone to Sector 6 last time, she had found Reno, and nearly lost him again in the same day… and most of that was caused by Elena. She still felt regret at what she had done that day, even though everyone else had long forgotten about it… even if they nobody blamed her. But her biggest fear was now, Reno had gone off to the vampires again, that she would have to thrust that silver knife in his stomach again.


	12. Preparation

**A/N: **WOOOOOOOO!!! Update! I like this chapter, took me a while, probably because of the fact the the damn keyboard doesn't work. Well anyhoo, we got a little hurt/comfort.. well hurt - the comfort hasn't arrived yet. XD Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 12 - Preparation**

All Elena had to do was hand the piece of paper to Tseng and it didn't take him long to realise exactly what had happened. He sighed to himself and ran his hand through his sleek black hair.

"His intentions are obvious of course – he didn't want us to go with him." He said.

"Yeah, we know that…" Elena said, sounding shocked, "But surely you're not gonna let him do that?"

"No… but I hate to say it – we may already be too late." Tseng said grimly.

"Yeah, but…" Elena said, almost desperately, "Surely it's worth a shot?"

Tseng paused for a minute before replying, "It may not seem like it, but Reno is one of the best employees we have. Of course it's worth a shot."

* * *

Reno bit his lip in response to the pain. Valicia had long since left him alone with 2 of her thugs; both vampires, and they were laying into him as much as they could. Reno wasn't quite sure what to do; if he had to willingly sacrifice himself, was he allowed to defend himself against these bastards that were merely toying with him? He had been defending himself a little bit, but he suddenly felt like all the energy had been zapped out of him already… probably something to do with the knife that had been drawn repeatedly across his stomach. He lay on the floor, trying not to move, they seemed to be taking a break. As inconspicuously as he could, he unhooked his EMR from his belt and switched it to level 7. Full power, AKA death.

"You ain't killed him have you?" said one of the men. He had a strong, but unrecognisable accent.

"Nah, don't think so… either he's out, or he's pretendin'." Another replied. Reno heard footsteps approaching him and he smirked to himself. He felt a hand on his shoulders and he used as much energy as he could muster to turn over and smack the man as hard as he could with the EMR. He collapsed on the ground, instantly dead.

"Well…" the man with the accent said, "Seems this guy has more strength in him than we thought." He smiled to himself as he watched Reno struggle to his feet. Reno stared at the man; people had called him heartless in his life more than once, but if one of his friends just got murdered, he wouldn't be smirking.

"So…" he carried on, "You killed one person today, there will be no one else except you." He ran towards Reno and struck at him again with the knife, but this time Reno got out of the way just in time.

"Ooh, agile are we now as well? Well, we'll soon see…" He ran at Reno again, this time catching him full in the face with the sharp blade. Reno could feel the burning pain and the warm blood trickling down his face and neck, but he ignored it, with his EMR still set to level 7, he threw himself at the man, knowing he had nothing to lose, and struck him in the neck. Reno heard the sickening crackle of electricity as the man drew his last breath and collapsed in a heap at Reno's feet.

He suddenly felt a wave of relief rush over him, and fell to the ground himself, exhausted. He put his hand to his face, in an attempt to clean the blood away, but there was too much; the man had obviously got him harder than he thought. He did his best to clear it, trying to ignore the increasing pain.

So now what? Was he supposed to find Valicia himself? He sat for a moment, trying to recover his strength. He wondered briefly whether Rude, Tseng, Elena and Rihanna would follow him. He hoped with all his heart that they wouldn't; Reno himself was certainly going to get himself killed, and he wasn't sure about Yuffie. He didn't want to risk anyone else's life. Reno looked up and sighed as another two men walked into the room. One of them was tall; probably slightly taller than Reno, with dark brown hair, the other shorter with blonde hair. They both looked at Reno and the blonde one laughed slightly.

"So this is the guy Valicia has been trying so hard to kill?" he said, still laughing.

"I assume so." The other man replied. He sounded very stoic.

"Well, looks like the other guys have pretty much finished him in one go." The blonde carried on, "Looks like Valicia over-estimated him."

"Hmm…" the stoic man said, walking closer to Reno, "I don't know. Looks can be deceiving."

"Right, whatever you say… You!" he said loudly at Reno, "Get up, now."

That was it; he had crossed the line now. Reno jumped to his feet, but not to obey the man, and scowled at him.

"Do not…" he said angrily, "Tell me what to do." Reno switched his EMR on again and tried to strike the man, but he dodged it. Laughing again, he launched his fist towards Reno, but his aim was obviously incredibly bad, and he only caught the side of Reno's face. It was still pretty painful thought, as it irritated the rather bad cut he had there. Reno went to strike the blonde man again but this time the other one caught hold of his wrist with a white-knuckle grip. He was surprisingly strong as he tightened his grip and pushed Reno backwards. Growling slightly under his breath, he ran back at the brown-haired man, ignoring his protesting muscles, and struck again. This time he was lucky and got him, but not hard enough to send enough electricity through his body to kill him. He stumbled slightly and fell to his knees, looking back up at Reno.

"That's an interesting weapon you have there." He said, his voice slightly shaken. "I take it you're from Shinra?"

"Ha, did Valicia not tell you anything? You really just do her dirty work for her don't you? I take it Valicia doesn't want to get her hands dirty?"

"Probably not. Not worth her time on scum like you." The blonde man said.

"Ha, yeah?" Reno said, double checking his EMR setting, "Why is she trying so hard to kill me then?"


	13. Fourth Time Unlucky

**A/N: **LOL this chapters like.. the ULTIMATE in hurt and comfort, XD not really, it just has more. Id like to think im getting better at action scenes though lol. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 13 – Fourth time Unlucky**

"That… is something that is not to be discussed." The browned haired man said, slightly flustered.

"More like you don't know." Reno said, starting to smirk. Despite his current situation, he was enjoying taunting the two men.

"Shut up." The blonde man said harshly. He drew his fist back and punched Reno in head. Reno laughed slightly; these men were obviously rookies, because he had just caused himself more pain than Reno.

"What the hell is your head made of!?" the man said loudly, nursing his hand.

"Stronger stuff than yours…" Reno launched himself at the blonde, his EMR still set to level 7. This time, he hit him right in the neck, quite hard. The man screamed, then fell to the floor, dead.

"You wanna know what it feels like to have 1000 volts of electricity through your spine, or are you alright?" Reno asked the other man cockily. He didn't reply, only stared at him, still unnerved. Reno laughed to himself.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said, before lunging at the man. What he didn't expect though, was for the man to make no flinching motions, and thrust his arm forwards, driving a knife straight into Reno's stomach.

The man laughed as he pulled the knife backwards, and Reno collapsed on the floor.

"Well, well…" he said, annoyingly victorious.

"Ha, you really are a rookie, aren't ya?" Reno said quietly, trying to hide the weakness in his voice. "You c-could have done a lot more damage than that…"

"I already told you… Valicia wants to deal with you herself."

"Yeah? What if you were to 'accidentally' kill me? Then what would happen?"

"That… would not happen." The man said.

"Yeah… really? So… you tellin' me, you knew exactly where to get me with that…" he pointed at the bloodied knife in his hand, "Without killin'me?"

The man's dark grey eyes narrowed as he scowled at Reno. "Be quiet." He said, while kicking him forcefully in the stomach. Even for Reno, that was too much and he collapsed completely onto floor, almost passing out. As the man advanced on him again, Reno was shocked to see that he paused, looking ahead of him a look of horror on his face. Reno heard a voice behind him shout "Ice3" and the mans face glowed white for a minute, before he keeled over.

"No…" Reno sighed to himself. His immediate thoughts were Elena, Tseng, Rude and Rihanna. He had desperately not wanted them to follow him.

"Reno!?" he heard a shocked, female voice cry. It was certainly not Rihanna or Elena. Reno deliberately ignored it though, as he slipped further and further into unconsciousness.

"Reno!" He felt an arm being wrapped around his shoulders, lifting him slightly off the ground. Reno forced his eyes open and was surprised to see Tifa; a look of immense worry in her eyes. He could just see Cloud behind her, but he was too out of it to get angry. He felt cold fingers on his neck, no doubt checking for a pulse before his eyes dropped closed.

* * *

"…surprised Valicia hasn't come yet." Reno heard a voice above him, and desperately wanted to reply. What he lacked was the energy. 

"She'll come." Reno heard the familiar, deep voice of Cloud say.

"I.. I don't know if I can do this…" Reno heard Rihanna's voice this time. No, he thought to himself. Reno didn't want her to witness her last remaining family member dying.

"Don't worry, Rihanna." Elena said comfortingly. "We won't let it happen."

"We need to get him out of here." He heard Tseng say, then he felt a hand touch his stomach. Reno cringed.

"Reno?" Tseng asked. Reno still couldn't quite master the energy to open his mouth to speak, but compensated by attempting, once again, to open his eyes. This time he managed it, and despite his vision being slightly blurry, he could make out the unmistakable forms of Rude, Tseng, Elena, Rihanna, Cloud and Tifa surrounding him. He saw Elena wave her hand in front of his face.

"Help me up…" he said, so quietly no one heard him.

"What?" Elena said. They were beginning to come more into focus.

"Help me up." He said, louder this time.

"Reno…"

"I'm serious." Even he was surprised at how weak his voice sounded.

He closed his eyes again, preparing for the upcoming pain, and felt Elena wrap his left arm around her shoulder, and someone else wrap his right arm around their shoulder. Ignoring the painful twinge in his stomach, he stood up. The person on his right let go of him, leaving Elena to support him fully.

"Reno…?" Elena said unsurely.

"Yeah?" Reno looked at her, and smirked. She shook her head.

"I truly will never understand you."


	14. Dead Weight

**A/N: **Ok, I know this is extremely, stupidly short, but that was (obviously) the most appropriate cut-off point, so please forgive me : )

Wow, I feel so sad after writing this...

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**Chapter 14 – Dead Weight**

"Why did you come here?" Reno asked, still leaning on Elena.

"Reno… we don't want you to get killed." Rihanna said shakily.

"Yeah… you stay here and we're all gonna get killed. And what about you?" he said pointing to Cloud and Tifa.

"We wanted Yuffie." Cloud said bluntly.

"Oh, so nothing to do with Reno?" Rihanna said angrily. "I can't believe you, both of you. Can't you just put your differences behind you for 5 minutes?"

Reno and Cloud stared at Rihanna, shocked by her sudden outburst. Tseng coughed quietly and all eyes turned to him.

"In case you hadn't noticed, one of my Turks is seriously injured…"

"Yeah, I had noticed strangely enough…" Reno interrupted.

"Thank you, Reno." Tseng said calmly, "Anyway, we need to get out of here."

"We can't, idiot." Reno said, as angrily as he could manage, "What about Yuffie?"

"We need to do this properly Reno… your running off has created difficulties."

"Yeah, we are doin' it properly… I go find Valicia, she kills me. End of story."

"Why are you voluntarily giving up your life, Reno?" Tifa asked.

"Because… because I am. It's my job."

"No it's not. Your job is not to die…"

"You know exactly why I'm doin' it, so quit makin' me tell."

"Quit arguing!" Elena said loudly. "And let's go."

"Go? Go where?" Rihanna said despairingly.

"Whatever happens, we have to get Yuffie." Elena explained.

* * *

"You searched for me for hours, but you didn't understand. I'm right here." A figure of a woman suddenly appeared in front of them. Elena ignored the cramp in her arm after supporting Reno for so long, but grimaced slightly as he shifted his weight.

"So… you found out what would happen to Reno, I presume?" she asked politely.

"It's not going to happen." Tseng said firmly.

"Just leave it." Reno said. He let go of Elena and began to limp slowly towards Valicia. Elena went to go after him, but found herself being pulled back by a large, strong hand. Elena looked up at Rude desperately.

"Leave him." The stoic Turk said quietly. "He knows what he's doing."

They watched as Valicia grinned. Reno stopped and stood before Valicia, not the slightest trace of fear in his aquamarine eyes. Valicia smiled wider still and pulled a long, sharp-looking silver knife out of her pocket. Elena tried to resist Rude's grip on her shoulder, but he simply pulled her back again. She looked up at him, even though he was wearing his sunglasses, she could see the sadness in his eyes, and was almost certain she could see a tear. She could understand of course. Reno had been his partner for a long time, and it would be like loosing an arm. Although Rude didn't say much, he and Reno had developed a special bond, a great friendship, that Rude had never been able to have with anyone else.

"So, Reno? Are you ready?" Valicia said, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice.

Reno put his head down, his face showing no emotion at all. Valicia put the knife towards Reno's neck and pressed it against it. Reno looked up at her again and to everyone's shock, he smiled.

"Reno! No!" Elena screamed. But it was too later. With a quick movement of her wrist, Valicia drew the knife down Reno's neck, and he collapsed on the floor.


	15. Tseng's Problem

**A/N: **Oh gosh... this was so difficult to write without giving away the whole story!! I think I did a pretty good job though.

Good news!! I've decided that this one needs yet ANOTHER sequel! I had a brilliant idea for it. There was something I've always wanted to write, but I never could because it wouldn't make any sense, unless I lead it from this. Thank you so much to all of you that have reviewed so far. There's not many chapters left for this one, so I'll put the name and info of the sequel up on my profile now. Enjoy, and don't get too sad; seriously, dont!! XD

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**Chapter 15 – Tseng's Problem**

The silence seemed to last for an eternity as everyone stared at Reno's seemingly lifeless body. Valicia turned to the rest of them and smirked, still holding the bloody knife in her right hand.

"This time…" Tseng said, as he and Rude both pulled out their guns simultaneously, "You've gone too far."

Tseng paused for a moment, as though in thought, then lowered his gun. He looked over at Rude and nodded his head, watching as Rude took aim.

"Oh, how very touching." Valicia said sarcastically, "Partners for long were you?"

Rude simply scowled at Valicia and pulled the trigger abruptly.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion; all at once, Valicia raised her hand and momentarily glowed a faint eerie green, as though she were using materia, then the bullet hit her, and she collapsed, dead.

Rude turned and looked at the others, speechless.

"We have to get out of here." Tseng said, not quite as calmly as usual. "That was manipulative materia she just used, I'm sure of it. It's too risky to stay here now, there must still be some vampires left."

"But what about Yuffie?" Tifa asked shakily.

"We have no clue where she is. We could be risking everyone else's life if we stay and look."

"So that's it?" Tifa said angrily, "You're just gonna give up on her?"

"You think we don't care?" Tseng almost shouted. Everyone stared at him; they had never seen him shout like that before. "We've just lost one of our numbers and you still think we don't care? If you want to stay and look for Yuffie, feel free. But I'm not going to risk the lives of any more of my Turks."

Tifa stared at Tseng, Rude, Elena, Rihanna and Cloud, each in turn, then at Reno. Slowly, she nodded her head.

"Let's go." Tseng said grimly. Rude took one last look at Reno…

The blinding sunlight was shocking to all of them as they stepped outside. Tseng turned at looked at everyone. Tifa and Cloud stared at the floor solemnly, Elena and Rihanna were both in tears, trying to comfort each other. It was then that Tseng realised; Rude was missing.

"Rude…" he said quietly, looking back towards the building.

"What? W-where's R-rude?" Elena asked shakily.

"He stayed behind…" Tifa said staring at Tseng.

"Come on…" Tseng said, pointing away from the building. He wasn't sure if he was making the right decision in leaving Rude behind, but he guessed Rude would want to make sure his partner didn't die in vain, and he didn't want to deprive Rude of that privilege. Just thinking about it made Tseng feel terrible.

* * *

Back at the Shinra headquarters, Tseng sat alone in his office. Rufus had just called him and asked to make an oral report to him in 10 minutes about what had happened, and for once, he really didn't have a clue what to say. How did he explain that he had managed to loose two Turks on the same mission?

He knew full well that Rihanna and Elena were both in the office downstairs, still trying to comfort each other. He was upset himself, but he knew it would be nothing to how Rihanna felt. She had lost everything now, her whole family and one of her best friends. Tseng was just thankful for having Elena at that moment. Sighing, Tseng gathered his thoughts and made his way to Rufus' office.

"Come in." he heard the icy voice from within as he knocked on the door.

"Ah, Tseng." Rufus said as Tseng entered.

"Sir." He replied, lowering his head slightly.

"So, you're mission was to go after Reno to sector 6 and return the Turk to us. So tell me what happened."

"We… we arrived at the vampires hideout in sector 6, where Reno was already badly injured. We were aided by two Avalanche members; Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart, who were there for Yuffie. We… we ran into Valicia, who then m-murdered Reno. When we left, Rude ended up getting left behind as well." Tseng finished, then sighed. He had done it; he looked at Rufus, who looked shocked.

"So on a mission to retrieve a missing Turk, you managed to loose two?"

"Yes, sir." Tseng said looking down.

"And the others?"

"Rihanna and Elena are downstairs, sir."

"I suggest you start recruit again. Of course, the Turks being a separate station, I have no direct control. But even you can see, numbers are down."

"Yes, sir. We will be pushed to find replacements though. Especially for Reno…"

"You are thinking too deeply Tseng." The concern had long since vanished from Rufus' icy blue eyes. "Reno… personality will be difficult to replace indeed. But as far as skill goes…"

"Sir, I spent more time working with him… his skill will be just as hard to replace as well as his personality."

"I beg to differ Tseng, on the missions he did with me, his lack of professionalism was…"

"It was his lack of professionalism that made him Reno!" Tseng was almost shouting again now, and at his boss as well. "None of these Turks will ever work the same without him! You'll see…"

"Hard to replace or not, Reno was always your problem, so you are responsible to replace him. Thank you, Tseng. You are dismissed."

Tseng walked briskly back to the elevator to go back down to his office. He had never been more angry in his life, and yet he still wasn't quite sure why. He had always thought that he and Reno never had a particularly close friendship, but his loss seemed to be affecting him more that he expected. Hearing Rufus talk about Reno like that… he was truly heartless, he cared only for the company, not for the employees at all. But then again, Tseng had always thought he was the same… obviously not. There was truth in Rufus' words though, he would need to recruit. Three Turks were not enough; they struggled when there were five of them. But could he really bring himself to admit that Reno was really dead and employ someone to take his position?


	16. Comfort

**A/N: **Oh god, I'm even upsetting myself writing this XD - Might have had something to do with what I was listening to while writing it - Accidentally In Love by Counting Crows... Nevermind... thank you again for your reviews. I'm not sure, but I think the next chapter is gonna be the last one for this... then on with the sequel!!

Enjoy!

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**Chapter 16 – Comfort**

Tseng had been right in what he had said to Rufus. Three days later, and he could sense the dark atmosphere within the Turks department. Rihanna and Elena hadn't gone into separate offices yet, and both of them spent most of their time in tears. Even Tseng himself was struggling to concentrate on his work now. Sure, Reno had been a handful to control, but that was what had made the Turks.

His cell phone was ringing again. Sighing, he picked it up and looked at the number. His heart leapt when he saw it read 'Rude.'

"Rude?" he said, answering it.

"Sir." Rude's husky voice replied. He sounded somewhat distant.

"Rude, what's your status?"

"I checked around the area, sir. There are more vampires, you were right. Valicia and Vanessa weren't the only ones…"

"And what of Yuffie?"

"Got her…"

"You found her?"

"Yeah, she's a little hurt though, I'm gonna bring her back…"

"And have you told her…?"

"About Reno? No…"

"Ok, leave it. Bring her back here straight away. I'll contact Cloud and Tifa."

"Sir."

Tseng shut his cell phone, feeling not quite as solemn. So he still had three other Turks, but he would still need to recruit. Reno filled a valuable position.

"Sir?" an unsure voice called from outside the door.

"Come in." Tseng called. Elena walked into the room, looking teary.

"Sir… I heard you talking?" she asked hopefully.

"Good news." Tseng told her. Elena looked up, her brown eyes glinting excitedly. Tseng shook his head. "It was Rude. He found Yuffie, and they're both heading back here."

"Oh, good." Elena said, slightly sadly.

"Listen Elena… don't you remember what Reno always used to say?" Tseng said in an attempt to cheer Elena up.

"What? You mean _"when I die, it's gotta be in some cool, flashy way."_

"Yeah, keep going…"

"…_and none of that 'cryin' over me' crap. You should all be happy that I'm gone."_ Elena smiled at the memory, tears coming to her eyes once again. Then, without warning, she burst out crying, and buried her face in Tseng's chest. Slightly shocked, Tseng put his arm around the blonde.

"…Where's Rihanna?" he asked.

"She… she's downstairs still." Elena said between sobs.

"It'll be alright, don't worry." Tseng said, he always had been hopeless as comforting people. "I have to contact Tifa and Cloud about Yuffie."

"Ok…" Elena pulled away, wiping her eyes. Tseng pulled out his cell phone and found the only contact number he had for Cloud; the Strife Delivery Service.

"Hello?" Tifa's solemn voice answered. She seemed to have abandoned her usual friendly greeting.

"Tifa? It's Tseng…"

"Oh, hi…"

"It's about Yuffie… Rude found her."

"He found Yuffie?" Tifa suddenly sounded excited.

"Yes, they're heading back here now. We'll touch up Yuffie's injuries for her, then let her decide what she wants to do after we tell her the news about Reno."

"Oh, right." Tifa sounded glum again, "So, what's gonna happen about Reno? I mean you're a man down now…"

"We have to recruit."

"Listen… I'm really sorry about Reno, and thank you so much about Yuffie… please thank Rude for me."

"Alright."

"Bye."

Tseng hung up his phone and looked at Elena. She still had tears in her eyes, but she was also smiling slightly. Tseng smiled back.

"So, recruiting?" she asked.

"Yeah… it won't be the same as when you were brought in though, that was because it was an emergency, with Reno being hurt. This time we'll have to do it properly."

"I'll help however I can, sir." Elena said, bowing her head slightly. "I'll go back down to Rihanna now."

Elena left the room, leaving Tseng to think about what he was going to do. He had already established the fact that he would have to find a replacement for Reno, but what to do about it…

He was brought out of his thoughtful state by a loud bang. He looked up to see Rude enter his office, followed by Yuffie.

"Rude." Tseng said, eyeing the two of them up and down. Rude looked relatively unhurt, but Yuffie had several cuts and bruises… nothing a cure materia couldn't fix.

"Rude, if you could leave us alone?" Tseng said politely. Rude nodded and exited the room, leaving Yuffie to sit down opposite Tseng.

"I have informed Tifa and Cloud that you have been found." Tseng told her bluntly. Yuffie nodded her head and looked at Tseng expectantly.

"Now it's up to you what you do…" he carried on.

"Where's Reno?" She asked, still staring at him.

"Reno… is gone. Valicia killed him." Tseng told her. Even saying it out loud made it feel worse, it was like he was truly accepting Reno was gone, and he didn't want to.

"He's dead?" Yuffie repeated, Tseng almost see feel her heart breaking.

"I'm sorry…" He said, lowering his head.

"Rihanna… where's Rihanna?" she asked him.

"She's downstairs. Don't worry about her, Elena's there with her."

"O-okay…" The tears began to fall.

"Do you want to stay here? Or return to Cloud and Tifa?" Tseng asked patiently.

"I… I d-don't know…" she said quietly.

"It's alright… there's no rush. Now, let me use some cure materia on you…"

Yuffie nodded her head and Tseng rummaged in his drawer for said materia. He clutched it in his hand, and it glowed faintly green, when he looked up all the cuts and bruises Yuffie had before had vanished.

"Th-thank you." She said gratefully.


	17. New Recruits

**A/N: **This is it!! SO SAD!! The last chapter. If you are into this story, I strongly suggest you carry on reading the sequel, which should be up within the next couple of days. Well, enjoy!!

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**Chapter 17 – New Recruits**

Tseng waited knocked on Rufus' door for the second time that week.

"Come in." came the voice from within.

"Sir…" Tseng said, slightly coldly. He felt no regret from how he had shouted at Rufus previously.

"I supposed you're here about the recruitments?" Rufus asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, sir… I wasn't sure whether I should go about…"

"No need Tseng. I have found six…" He checked on a piece of paper. "No, seven perfectly willing candidates."

"That was quick." Tseng said suspiciously.

"You will be surprised Tseng, at how many people wanted that job. I cut out the physically and emotionally weak. And this is the list we came up with. There is still one I'm not overly sure about, but I was out-voted."

Tseng took the list and scanned down it. Seven people; three women, three men and one that was impossible to tell by name.

"That's the one we're not sure about." Rufus said, pointing to the last person on the list. "That's a he… we can't get anything else out of him at the moment."

"Ok." Tseng pocketed the list.  
"They will all be arriving for your… approval at 1800 hours."  
"That's after hours. Why after hours?"

"You'll see… it's up to the other Turks if they want to stay, but they might not want to… just a suggestion."

* * *

Tseng made his way back to his office, slightly puzzled by Rufus' words. Why wouldn't the others want to be there? Did Rufus know something that he didn't? He looked at the list again, still deep in thought, then as he looked up, he saw someone enter the building through the door in front of him.

"Yuffie?" he said. The person looked up to reveal the face of a young woman.

"Hi…" Yuffie said sadly. Her brown eyes were clouded with sorrow.

"You okay…?" he asked unsurely.

"Yeah… yeah I'm okay thanks. I came to see Rihanna."

"Oh right. Yeah, come on, I was heading that way anyway." Tseng said pointing down the corridor.

"What's that?" she said, pointing to the piece of paper in Tseng's hand.

"List of new recruitments…" Tseng said. He wasn't sure if Yuffie really wanted to know that, but she asked…

"Oh…" Yuffie looked down.

"Come on." The two of them headed down towards Rihanna's office.

"Rihanna?" Tseng looked around her door, expected to see Elena as well, but Rihanna was sitting alone. "Yuffie's here to see you."

Rihanna looked up and smiled, albeit half-heartedly.

"Where's Elena?" Tseng asked.

"Not sure… I think she went out to get some air…"

"Ok…" Tseng looked at his watch, 4:45 pm. They could go home in 15 minutes, and the new recruits would be arriving in a while. He wasn't yet sure how he was going to work this, especially as they all usually ended up staying long after their shift was finished. First, to find Elena.

It didn't take him long to spot the blonde, standing outside near the door, leaning on the railings. She had a pink scarf pulled up around her neck to shield her from the chilly autumn wind.

"Elena?"

"Oh, hey…" she said, moving over so that Tseng could stand next to her.

"Elena… Rufus has given me a list of new recruits, they are arriving at six. But he said you might not want to be here when they arrive." Tseng explained.

"Oh… why not? I'd like to meet them…" Elena said, looking down.

"I don't know. He didn't say. I just thought I'd leave it up to you."

"I'll stay." Elena said nodding her head. "It can't be that bad, and after all, we'll have to meet eventually."

"Okay, if you're sure. Meet me near the training arena at 5 minutes to, okay?"

"Okay." Elena nodded her head again, and Tseng headed back inside. At least he would have one person with him. He didn't know why, but he was nervous. Perhaps it was because the only hope he had left was that one of these recruits would be suitable to fill Reno's place.

* * *

By the time he reached Rihanna's office, Yuffie had already gone. He assumed she had just dropped by to see how she was doing.

"Rihanna?" he opened the door, proceeding in telling Rihanna what he had told Elena. When he had finished, she stared at him for a moment, then nodded her head.

"I'll stay." She said quietly.

* * *

At 6:00, six of the new Turks were present. Only one was missing, the one from the bottom of the list. Then, just as Tseng was thinking about it, and young black-haired youth stepped into the room.

"Now that everyone is present, I would personally like to welcome you all, and let you know…" Tseng told them. Then, his dark eyes narrowed and he put on a much more serious voice. "This job is like a sacrifice… once you are in, there's no way out, at least not alive. And you are expected to do your job, no matter what that takes…"

Tseng finished and looked over at Elena, who was staring at the new recruits. Her eye seemed to have been caught by the late-running black-haired youth, who was staring back at her, slight confusion in his piercing turquoise eyes. Then, Elena seemed to get a hold of herself and looked over at Tseng, smiling grimly. Tseng turned to the rest of them and carried on talking.

"New recruits…" he said confidentally. "Welcome to Shinra Inc."

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**A/N: **Fin ...read the sequel!! 


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